All of us go through times when we can’t believe in ourselves for whatever reason. Doubt, fear, depression, anxiety…many things can play a role. And it can really suck.

I consider myself very fortunate. Even though I definitely have times when my belief in myself just plain isn’t there, I have people in my life who believe in me. And most of the time, their belief is enough to get me past my own doubt.

Sometimes my kids grumble about my writing, especially when I talk about it for more than a few seconds, but both of them also brag about me to their friends and have arranged for me to present at or donate books to their schools. (Under my young adult pen name, of course.) My husband was the first to encourage me to submit to publishers, and has cheered me on through every submission and acceptance, and my “other guy” asks me almost daily how the writing is going and tells me he can’t wait until the day I announce a big publishing deal. And my “partner-in-crime” best friend buys many of my books, even if he isn’t completely interested in them, and feeds me frequent plot bunnies.

As an author–and a human being–it can be easy to fall into the pit of “I can’t do this, I’m not good enough.” Having people around me who say “You are SO good enough, you’ve got this” helps more than I can ever express to them.